<p>This seemed important enough to send upstairs to Research. Billy Joe (a boy) was seen with a girl (who looked a lot like the girl narrating/singing the song) throwing something off the Tallahatchie Bridge. BJ jumped shortly thereafter.
<a href=“http://users.cis.net/sammy/billyjoe.htm[/url]”>http://users.cis.net/sammy/billyjoe.htm</a></p>
<p>TheDad/marite, you’re both right! (Well, TheDad, your thought is just the common assumption, it’s never totally spelled out…)
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<p>I think you mean their baby. or is this an incest story???</p>
<p>IIRC, it wasn’t a baby in the movie, but something rather stupid. No incest, either.</p>
<p>(ducking head in shame admitting that I actually watched the movie)</p>
<p>I don’t know if anyone has posted this, but speaking of songs made into Movies, did anyone mention “Harper Valley, PTA” by Jeannie C. Reilly?</p>
<p>I can’t ever think of Ode to Billy Joe without thinking of Harper Valley PTA.</p>
<p>(and to the person who asked- One Tin Soldier (The Legend of Billy Jack) was by “Original Caste”</p>
<p>that reminded me of a song
“all around my hat” by Steeleye Span</p>
<p>“One tin soldier” was performed by Coven also - their version was used for the movie Billy Jack</p>
<p>Don MacLean and “American Pie.” I liked several other songs on the eponymous album and I know he had other albums but nothing else ever penetrated the collective consciousness, I don’t believe. I’m bemused that DM is one of D’s favorite “retro” singers, along with Judy Collins…can never tell what’s going to click with that girl.</p>
<p>And then there’s “Killing Me Softly,” [Roberta Flack?], which iirc was written in response by someone [singer/writer] attending a Don MacLean concert.</p>
<p>I think Normal Gimbel wrote “Killing Me Softly.”</p>
<p>I like the Fugees version
Aretha has one as well-
The first time I heard it was on the soundtrack for the Clint Eastwood directed “Play Misty for me” in 1971
I can’t tell who wrote it- on Google it looks like everyone who ever recorded it is credited</p>
<p><a href=“Blender - All Things Blender, All In One Place”>Blender - All Things Blender, All In One Place;
<p>Gimbel clangs a bell. Now all we need to do is connect the dots to MacLean…</p>
<p>American Pie is THE song for CTYers. That program probably extended the shelf life of the song by quite a few years.</p>
<p>Really? That’s interesting. I’ve often thought that D was a demi-CTY kindred spirit. The CTY program doesn’t have much of a profile in our district and I had never heard of it before I got on CC, fwiw. I know of exactly one student from D’s hs who participated.</p>
<p>American Pie gets sung at every CTY site at least once per session, and usually more. I think it’s pretty much de rigueur.</p>
<p>How did “Vincent” fare on the charts? It’s def. my favorite Don McLean song (I’ve heard McLean was a nutso rightwing christian weirdo, though)</p>
<p>I had Googled MacLean a while back and I think he was more of a New Age environmental…ummm…nut, living in upstate New York. Whatever, it was definitely a fairly off-the-beaten path life course. My search was sparked by a “What ever happened to…” moment. Anyway, I’m sure a Google search would easily correct me if I’m wrong.</p>
<p>Sorry for being late to the party. Here’s a bunch more that I have not seen posted:</p>
<p>Gilbet O’Sullivan - Alone Again, Naturally
Edward Bear - Last Song
Rachel Sweet - B-A-B-Y
Steve Forbert - Romeo’s Tune
Brownsville Station - Smoking In The Boys Room
The Sweet - Little Willie
Edison Lighthouse - Love Grows Where my Rose Mary Goes
Adam Ant - Ant Music
Boomtown Rats - I Don’t Like Mondays
Skylark - Wildflower
Andy Kim - Rock Me Gently
The Standells (A San Francisco band) - Dirty Water
Men at Work - Down Under</p>
<p>Anyone see Mr. Mumbles last night? He was strangely lucid.</p>
<p>The BIG top-40 hit…Like a Rolling Stone.</p>
<p>Yeah, who <em>was</em> that guy impersonating Dylan?! And where was I all that time, not knowing about his “thing” with Baez? Sure was fun to hear the Clancy Bros. and the Weavers and Newport Folk again. (Not many “one-hit wonders” in that crowd; not many <em>HITS</em> in that crowd…)</p>
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<p>CBS Sunday Morning did a profile on Don McLean last year, and he seemed reasonably well adjusted to me. He lived in a nice house in the forest and was doing well financially. Didn’t seem weird that I recall. Unilke most rock/folk stars he had a good education. He had a degree in Finance and put it to good use: he retained the copyrights to all his material and trademarks, something most rock stars fail to do. One of his quotes about that from the piece was “If you want to open a pie shop and call it ‘American Pie’, you’ve got to come talk to me first.”</p>
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<p>What? How could you not know that? The Baez/Dylan romance back in their early days was the Spears/Timberlake superstar romance of our day. Dylan’s song “Visions of Johanna” was supposedly written about Joan Baez.</p>